According to Im Tirtzu, radical leftist and Arab students and professors associated with the Free Jerusalem and Meretz student groups disrupted a speech Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat delivered last night at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in honor of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem.

According to Im Tirtzu, a prominent Zionist organization in Israel that is based on college campuses, radical leftist and Arab students and professors associated with the Free Jerusalem and Meretz student groups disrupted a speech that Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat delivered last night at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the framework of the Seminars for Zionist Thought program. The purpose of the discussion was to speak about the unification of Jerusalem in light of its upcoming 50th anniversary.

The radical leftist and Arab students held up signs and shouted derogatory slogans at the mayor while referring to Jerusalem as an occupied city and professing their opposition to Israel destroying the homes of terrorists. One of the things that the radical leftist and Arab students and professors proclaimed was: “You have no right to speak here because you are racist.” According to the Israaellycool website, they even got violent.

Photo Credit: David Kozlovsky

“We will not bow our heads to the violence and incitement of the radical Left aimed at authorizing the wild and illegal construction in the eastern part of the city,” Barkat proclaimed. “It is unfortunate that those who claim to promote the values of freedom of expression try to silence those who don’t agree with them. The response to those who in the name of the freedom to protest try to silence those who think differently from them is clear: Every violation of the law and order will be met with a strong and uncompromising hand anywhere in united Jerusalem.”

Once the protesters were removed, Barkat delivered his speech as planned and added: “There is one law in Jerusalem - for Jews and Arabs alike. We will continue to work without prejudice or exemptions to ensure law and order in Israel's united capital city.”

Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg said that this hostile disruption crossed a red line and called on Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett to demand from the university president to take action against the protesters. "What happened tonight was a disgraceful attempt to silence free speech," said Peleg. "Im Tirtzu has never been deterred by the radical-Left and will never be deterred by them in the future. We will continue running the Seminars for Zionist Thought on campuses throughout the country and will continue to provide students with pro-Israel knowledge with the leading Zionist lectures in Israel.”

This was not the first time that Mayor Barkat had one of his speeches disrupted on a university campus. Last year, when he spoke at Columbia University, J Street protesters interrupted him by carrying signs and they accused him of engaging in racist incitement. Also last year, when he spoke at San Francisco State University, anti-Israel protesters interrupted his talk by chanting: “Intifada! Intifada! Long live the Intifada!” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” While waving Palestinian flags, the anti-Israel protesters at San Francisco State University referred to Israel as a terrorist and apartheid state.